Cote d’Ivoire has unveiled a new batch of military hardware, including DCD Protected Mobility Husky route clearance vehicles, ahead of its independence day parade.
During preparations for the country’s independence day on 7 August, Cote d’Ivoire displayed new armoured vehicles, missiles, and other equipment, including at least three Husky route clearance vehicles, at least eleven Norinco VP11 mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, at least 15 DongFeng EQ2050 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), half a dozen VN-22B wheeled armoured fire support vehicles, and a number of Can-Am Maverick Sport Max all-terrain vehicles.
Also seen were 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles and 9K32 Strela-2 man-portable air defence systems, which appear to have been recently acquired.
The latest equipment acquisitions indicate a substantial amount of new hardware has been delivered since 2022, when Cote d’Ivoire first displayed International Armoured Group (IAG) Jaws armoured personnel carriers, WZ-551 6×6 infantry fighting vehicles from China, and Nurol Makina Ilgaz-II armoured vehicles from Turkey. The Armoured Group (TAG) has also supplied BATT UMG and Terrier LT-79 armoured vehicles to Cote d’Ivoire while Turkey has delivered at least 20 Otokar Cobra II APCs. Nineteen Springbuck SD APCs were acquired from South Africa.
Cote d’Ivoire’s army previously was known to only operate handfuls of AML-60, AML-90, BRDM-2, ERC-90F4 Sagaie, BMP-1/2, VAB, M-3 Panhard, Mamba and BTR 80 armoured vehicles. These were in 2018 supplemented with second hand BTR-70 and Kaiman armoured vehicles from Belarus and Bastion APCs from France.
On the naval side, Cote d’Ivoire is receiving two OPV-45 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) from Israel. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s arms transfers database, China provided a single Predator PC patrol craft in 2017, and Cote d’Ivoire took delivery of a second hand P400 patrol vessel from France in 2022, and three RPB 33 patrol craft in 2014-16.
The new acquisitions come after armed groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaida crossed the border to launch attacks in Cote d’Ivoire, as Islamist extremists seek to expand toward the Gulf of Guinea from their strongholds in Mali and Burkina Faso. The army has built bases along the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso and deployed between 2 000 and 2 500 troops in the area.
The government continues to prioritise its military response and in 2021, President Alassane Ouattara promised to spend 1% of the country’s GDP on equipment to prevent terrorists from entering the country.
According to Crisis Group, as jihadist groups in the Sahel move southward, Côte d’Ivoire has beefed up its security deployment in the north and rolled out a range of social projects to alleviate poverty and youth unemployment. Militant violence has subsided since a series of attacks in the north between 2020 and 2021. Côte d’Ivoire’s twin focus on security and economic development is yielding important dividends for the population in the north, Crisis Group said.
“Security sources plausibly suggest that Ouattara’s government has built the most professional army Côte d’Ivoire has had to date, which will soon also be the largest. By the end of 2023, the army is slated to be a force of 24 000, while the police and gendarmerie are estimated to account for an additional 40 000 security personnel. Some question, however, whether training soldiers to a higher professional standard and purchasing new military equipment is sufficient to effectively respond to the unconventional strategies adopted by jihadist rebels.”
In addition to putting boots on the ground in the north, Abidjan is bolstering its security architecture with a counter-terrorism training facility that aims to become a regional hub for security and senior government personnel involved in reversing jihadism. In June 2021, Ivorian and French authorities opened the International Academy for the Fight Against Terrorism (Académie Internationale de Lutte contre le Terrorisme, or AILCT) in the seaside town of Jacqueville, near Abidjan. By 2023, officials and officers from 26 African countries had completed courses there.
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